Press Release : The 8th Annual High-Level Multi-Stakeholder Forum on WaSH Kicks-off in Addis
30 March 2017, Addis Ababa: Today, the Government of Ethiopia convened the eight Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF-8th ) in Addis Ababa in the presence of government officials, ambassadors, members of the Donors Assistance Group, UN representatives, Development Partners, Civil Society, Organizations, public and private sector, Academicians, Researchers as well as of the media. The theme of this year’s MSF is “Climate Resilient and Inclusive ONE WaSH Programme,” reflecting the extraordinary drought that the country has faced in 2016 and 2017.
The WaSH MSF is an annual platform bringing together all the stakeholders in the Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene sector across the country. the objective of MSF 8 is to track the progress on WaSH sector development programme, dialogue on policy issues and strategies, discuss and generate consensus and commitment for priority actions for the year ahead as well as show Ethiopia’s commitment for the upcoming Sanitation and Water for All High Level Ministerial (SWA HLM) meeting to be help in April in Washington DC. At this high-level global meeting, Ethiopia will share the substantial progress done thought the one WaSH National Programme (OWNP) with a vision of ‘One Plan, One Budget and One Report,” in the effort to achieve universal coverage by 2030.
The ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity runs the One WaSH National Programme, a sector-wide and multi-sectoral approach that involves the Ministries of Health, Education, and Finance and Economic Cooperation. One WaSH consolidates funds for WaSH programmes to modernize the way services are delivered, improve the country’s health situation, decrease the dropout rates of children in school, and ensure the ambitious financing need for WaSH to be more effective and sustainable.
In addition, the WaSH programme works in sector in the development of the Health Extension Programme, which promotes hygiene and sanitation through more than 38,000 health extension workers and their links to the ‘health development army’ in communities.
The progress made by the WaSH sector in the development of the Paris and Accra declarations is noteworthy. WaSH in Ethiopia achieved is a unique and remarkable programme that helped Ethiopia in achieving the MDG target for water supply, and with one of the fastest rates of reducing the open defecation in the world. Further to this, the sector still remains with many challenges to be addressed in the areas of waste water treatment, urban sanitation, WaSH needs of the school across the country.
Following the preparation of the ambitious Growth and Transformation Plan II in WaSH targets and concurrent endorsement of 2030 Agenda for SDGs, Ethiopia like other countries of the world is expected to share its commitments and progress through subsequent MSF and global platform such as the UN High Level Political Forum. In order to achieve these targets, Ethiopia, with 100 million people, and exacerbated challenges of water to develop sustainable system from all possible sources.
The outcome of the two day forum will be recorded into a statement which will be prepared immediately following the forum and shall be subject to similar review in the next MSF forum.
This year’s MSF will be attended by more than 250 participants including 30 media representatives
Find power point presentations here http://www.cmpethiopia.org/page/2138
